Wednesday, September 25, 2013

For a limited time the Kindle edition of Kylie Bisutti's I'm No Angel is free on Amazon! You can read my review here, and download the free book here.

In December 2011, 21-year-old Victoria's Secret model Kylie Bisutti
stunned the fashion industry when she chose faith over fame and fortune
and made the switch from supermodel to role model.

In I'm No Angel,
Kylie shares her story--from her early years struggling to make it big
in the cut-throat world of modeling, her "big break" winning the
Victoria's Secret Runway Angel competition, and the disillusionment and
spiritual warfare that followed, to the moment she realized that she
could no longer reconcile her career with her Christian beliefs,
surrendered her life to God, said goodbye to the runway, and dedicated
her life to preaching a message of modesty and inner beauty.

Along
the way, Kylie talks about her personal struggles with inadequacy, low
self-esteem, and her near-constant quest for approval in a world where
you can never be thin enough, pretty enough, or sexy enough. She helps
readers understand that true beauty lies within and that real
fulfillment comes from knowing, loving, and serving Christ.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
is based on the first book of Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments
Series. The story follows Clary Fray
who, upon her mother’s disappearance, discovers that she is a shadowhunter – a
demon slayer, if you will. The story
follows Clary’s introduction into the shadowhunter world and her quest to rescue her mother.

Visually the film is beautifully done, and it is a joy to behold.It truly is a thing of beauty and scenes from the book are wonderfully brought to life. Overall though, the movie doesn’t pack as much punch as I had hoped.

Unfortunately the acting is not up to par. The chemistry between Lily Collins and Jamie
Campbell Bower is really good, but even their acting falls a little short. Bower doesn't fully capture Jace’s attitude. Jace, in the book, is very
intense, very sarcastic and comes across as a tortured soul. Bower only manages to make Jace seem
aloof. As for Clary, Collins does a
pretty good job, but again, fails to completely bring her character to
life. Book Clary is innocent but fierce, a force to be reckoned with, and I’m not convinced Collins brings Clary’s tough side out prominently
enough; there is just something missing.

Jace and Clary

Bower and Collins are, however, very
convincing as two people falling in love – possibly because they truly fell in love while filming (... or did they? I'm never 100% convinced when co-stars 'fall in love' - is it real, or is it for publicity? Anyhoo...)

The best of the lot is probably Lena
Headey (Jocelyn), and she has very limited screen time – in total, probably ten minutes
max. Jonathan Rhys Meyers fails to
deliver as Valentine; I love Meyers as an actor, I just could not take him seriously as this villain. He comes across very theatrical; he made me want to laugh more than cower in fear, and that's just unacceptable for an antagonist. Aiden Turner delivers a fairly good portrayal of
Luke, but also has precious little screen time.

Jace fighting vampires

Kevin Zegers portrays Alec perfectly. He packs just the right amount of intensity and resentment, manages to convey a lot without saying much and comes across all the more threatening for it. I was more frightened of him in the scene where he attacks Clary than I ever was of Valentine. His character, though, is not as prominent in the movie as he is in the book;
both he and Isabelle are more in the background than anything else.

Alec

Speaking of Isabelle, it’s hard to critique Jemima
West as, again, her character has very little screen time. Overall, I have no major complaints regarding
her acting. Character-wise, though,
Isabelle is not nearly mean enough. In the book she
makes Clary’s life really difficult , she’s very bitchy and she even openly
flirts with Simon – all of these character traits were omitted from the film. You would never know from watching the film that Isabelle can't stand Clary.

Isabelle being much too nice to Clary

Robert Sheehan was the perfect choice to play
Simon, and he

pretty much nails all things Simon. True to the book character, Sheehan’s
performance stands out as very authentic. Overall, though, I can't help but wonder if the movie might not have been a bigger success if a stronger cast had been attached to it. Too many movies nowadays aim to involve lesser-known actors. I am positive that bigger names would have not only delivered stronger performances, but would also have drawn larger audiences, and the sequels would not have been in danger; but more about this later.

Clary and Simon

Apart from visually perfecting the look of the film, there are also at least two major improvements from the book - the film version elected not to
turn Simon into a rat, and the vampires do not have flying motorcycles. These are the only two things about the book
that really annoyed me, taking away from an otherwise quite realistic
storyline, and I am happy that the film altered these storylines to be more realistic.

As for the ending – the film took
major liberties! I would say that the last 30
minutes of the film differs remarkably from the book. The basic premise remains, but everything is
changed quite significantly – including the issue surrounding the burning question readers were left with – are Clary and Jace truly related? Where book readers have to wait
until book 3, City of Glass, to discover the truth, the movie may have dropped a
major spoiler in this regard. That
annoys me more than anything – it’s completely alright to torture the readers, but let’s
not keep the movie-goers wondering. The fan base of the books is what made a movie possible in the first place, and to me this was a huge slap in the face to a loyal fandom who made this movie possible (and by all accounts are the only people to have spent money on seeing the movie, too).

Clary instinctively using a rune the other shadowhunters had never even seen before

The Mortal Instruments: City of
Bones is considered a box office flop. City
of Bones cost $60 million make, but after three weeks in theatres,
the movie had only earned $37 million world-wide. Consequently
production on its sequel, based on the second book in the series, City of Ashes, has
been halted indefinitely. According to an official statement, Constantin Films wishes to "analyze the results to date and reposition the franchise in order to maximize results for future instalments" According to Martin Moszkowicz:

Pushing back the start of
production of City of Ashes
was a decision we did not take lightly. But after speaking with all of our
partners on the creative and distribution side, it was clear that it will be
beneficial to have more time to reposition the film in the current marketplace.
The Mortal Instruments
series has an incredibly loyal and ardent fan base and is a best-selling book
series. While taking Cassandra Claire’s vision to the screen we want to make
sure to draw on the full potential of the franchise.

Constantin Films has not said that it is
cancelling the franchise, but realistically speaking, under the circumstances the chances of a sequel
actually being filmed are slim.

Overall I enjoyed the film and it is by no means a major disappointment. There is, however, no denying that it could have been more... just more.

Monday, September 16, 2013

For a limited time the Kindle edition of Shadows by Jennifer L. Armentrout is free on Amazon. Shadows is a type of prequel to the Lux Seriesand tells the story of how Daemon's twin, Dawson, fell in love with his human girlfriend, Bethany. Get it here now.

The last thing Dawson
Black expected was Bethany Williams. As a Luxen, an alien life form on
Earth, human girls are…well, fun. But since the Luxen have to keep their
true identities a secret, falling for one would be insane.

Dangerous. Tempting. Undeniable.

Bethany
can’t deny the immediate connection between her and Dawson. And even
though boys aren’t a complication she wants, she can’t stay away from
him. Still, whenever they lock eyes, she’s drawn in.

Captivated. Lured. Loved.

Dawson
is keeping a secret that will change her existence...and put her life
in jeopardy. But even he can’t stop risking everything for one human
girl. Or from a fate that is as unavoidable as love itself

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Charge
nurse Erin Quinn escaped personal turmoil to work on the peaceful California
coast. But when a hazardous material spill places Pacific Mercy Hospital on
disaster status and stresses staff, she's put to the test. And thrown into
conflict with the fire department's handsome incident commander, who thinks her
strategy is out of line. Fire Captain Scott McKenna has felt the toxic effects
of tragedy; he's learned to go strictly by the book to advance his career, heal
his family, and protect his wounded heart. When he's forced to team with the
passionately determined ER charge nurse, sparks fly. As they work to save
lives, can they handle the attraction kindled between them . . . without
getting burned?

Disaster
Status by Candace Calvert is the second book in the Mercy Hospital series. The story follows Erin, who was a supporting
character in Critical Care, and fire fighter Scott McKenna. Scott and Erin are thrown together when they
must join forces to control the repercussions of a hazardous material spill,
and initially they seem as ill-suited as oil and water; they disagree on
everything and hardly a conversation concludes without one of them losing their
cool. The longer they are in each
other’s company, however, the better they come to understand each other and soon they
develop an attraction neither wants or understands. Both are also facing personal issues that
seem more important than getting romantically involved.

Scott
has lost faith in God following events that left him shattered. The loss of his sister rests heavily on his
heart as not a day goes by that he doesn’t ask himself if he could have saved
her that fateful day. Scott is also
tired of living in his hero father’s shadow.
He loves his father and honours his memory, but he deeply feels that he
will never live up to his father’s legacy.
What Scott fails to consider is the fact that his doubts and
insecurities might take him away from the woman who could heal his battered
heart.

Erin
has major issues with her father. He has
done nothing but let his family down, breaking his daughter’s heart over and
over again, until she finally locked him out with a refusal to ever let him
back in. This left her with a
deep-seated distrust of men in general.
Now that her father and mother have reconciled, Erin finds herself in
her family’s cross-hairs, everybody determined to get her to forgive her father,
causing Erin to isolate herself from her family even more. While Erin has no doubt that letting her
father back in her life would be a mistake, she never considers that her issues
with her father might cost her the man of her dreams.

Can
two stubborn people find a way to get over their issues and find love? Can Erin fully give her heart to a man who no
longer shares her faith? Dare she hope
that Scott can find his way back to the Lord? Can Scott face his past and open
his heart to the future? Can God find a
way to heal them both and give them the desires of their hearts?

Supporting
characters include Erin’s grandmother who is carrying a heart-breaking secret,
Scott’s nephew who is struggling with a form of survivor’s guilt and is facing
a possible leg amputation, and a damaged war veteran determined to protect the
boy at all costs.

From
the blurb I expected the hazardous material spill to be a much larger part of
the story, but it does fade into the background after Erin and Scott’s initial
meeting. Even so, this event gives the
story a solid foundation and realistic repercussions kept the story
interesting. The focus on faith is, as
always, handled wonderfully, coming across loud and clear while never becoming
preachy.

While
I liked both Erin and Scott, for some reason I did not connect with them
emotionally; not as strongly as I usually do with Calvert’s main characters. Truthfully, I was much more connected to
Leigh (who will be a main character in the next book), and I found myself more
eager to read Leigh excerpts than those of Erin and Scott. I very much look forward to reading Leigh and
Nick’s story in Code Triage, the next book in the series, and am
psychologically preparing myself – this one already has a tight hold on my
heart strings and I just know that reading it is going to be emotionally
taxing.